A man who said he’s the uncle of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings said the men brought “shame” to the family and the Chechen people, and stressed that their motives had nothing to do with religion.

“They put that shame on the entire ethnicity,” said Ruslan Tsarni, an uncle of two suspects who were named overnight.

One of them, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died in clashes with authorities, while as his younger brother, Dzhokhar, still appears to be on the run, sparking a massive manhunt and triggering lock-down in Boston.

“Being losers,” Tsarni said, when asked why his nephews might have bombed the marathon. “Hatred to those who were able to settle themselves. These are the only reasons I can imagine. Anything else to do with religion, with Islam — it’s a fraud, it’s a fake.”

Tsarni, speaking at a televised press news conference, said he had not seen the suspects in years, but said they must have become “radicalized.” He called on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to turn himself in.

“If you are alive, turn yourself in and ask forgiveness from the victims, from the injured. … ask forgiveness from these people,” he said, when asked whether he had a message for his surviving nephew. He added, “He put a shame, he put a shame on the … family. He put a shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity.”

Tsarni, who offered condolences to the victims and expressed his shock, also expounded on his own family’s love for America.

“I teach my children, and that’s what I feel myself … [I] respect this country, I love this country, this country, which gives the chance to everybody else to be treated like a human being.”

“The last time in 2009, maybe, the last time and that was in 2009, when I spoke with Tamerlan,” he said, noting that the suspects have been in the country for about a decade. “I was asking what he was doing and he started telling me about the, some that he’s been in Islam. I told him, listen. Islam [has] always been there. You just do your business. Work. Go to school. Be useful. Know why you came to America.”

Tsarni said his brother — the suspects’ father — still lives in Russia.

As for the younger brother, Tsarni remembered him as “a really nice, quiet boy” but said they hadn’t kept in touch.

Tsarni said he did not know that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been killed. When he was informed by a reporter, he said the older Tsarnaev “absolutely deserved” it and that he’s “not sympathizing.” But he added that the two suspects got their start in America “as refugees.”

“If these people do have an association with me through blood … barbarians,” he said.

Tsarni offered condolences and said he was ready to accept “curses” because “I’m associated with these bastards. I am talking about the two involved. What else can I say?”

A second uncle, Alvi Tsarni, told CBS that the suspects grew up in Kyrgyzstan.

“If he did this one, I’m sorry too,” he said. “It’s crazy, it’s not possible, I can’t believe it.”

A woman who said she was the auntof the two suspect called the whole event a “tragedy”.

“This is a huge tragedy for the family,” Maret Tsarnaev, who lives in Toronto, Canada told the Toronto Sun. “My brother’s two boys, they are growing up so fast. My first reaction is, ‘Why the hell would they do this?’ But when I go through all the material, it’s not giving anything … the whole world is now making a decision (on them) now by just seeing these pictures and not having anything else.”

The aunt told the news organization that she hasn’t seen the men in about five years, but knew that they were living in Cambridge.